SOVIET LABOR OPPOSES STRIKE BAN

Soviet petroleum workers show no indication of supporting Moscow's latest efforts to ease the U.S.S.R.'s economic crisis by banning strikes in vital industries and offering incentives for higher labor productivity. Instead, manifestations of growing oil field discontent spread to the Komi Republic in the far northeast corner of European Russia. A strike committee was set up in the city of Usinsk by petroleum production workers, and a protest meeting drew "many thousands of people," the

May 27, 1991

Instead, manifestations of growing oil field discontent spread to the Komi Republic in the far northeast corner of European Russia. A strike committee was set up in the city of Usinsk by petroleum production workers, and a protest meeting drew "many thousands of people," the labor union newspaper Trud reported.

Demands for pay increases, indexing of wages to soaring prices for consumer goods, and more responsiveness by Komi and Moscow officials to workers' needs were adopted. The Komi Republic is producing only about 300,000 b/d of oil, down from nearly 400,000 b/d in the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, low morale surfaced in the Soviet Union's biggest petroleum producing district early this month.

Oil workers in Nizhnevartovsk near supergiant Samotlor oil field in western Siberia showed little enthusiasm for the nation's annual May Day celebration, and many did not participate.

Fabric was not available for traditional banners Communist activists made in previous years to carry in parades backing the government.